It would be quite a coup for the 12 year old Atlanta firm which has grown into international financial conglomerate specializing electronic trading exchanges with 1.3 billion dollars in annual revenue.

In an interview earlier this year with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sprecher was quoted saying, "I never traded. I never wrote computer code. Yet I built an electronic trading company that's involved in some of the most advanced trading anywhere."

ICE moved to dominance in the clearing of credit default swaps, those are the derivatives that played a large role in the 2008 financial meltdown. IntercontinentalExchange's bid to buy the New York exchange brings ownership back home to America from the current owner, European based Euronext.

Although it will be wielding its weight on Wall Street, the Atlanta company won't be dislodging the exchange from its New York home and will be sharing management between the two cities.